


Another Kind of Chameleon

by SparklyAxolotl



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:47:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22149667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparklyAxolotl/pseuds/SparklyAxolotl
Summary: Is Lila a Master Manipulator as she herself believes?
Comments: 62
Kudos: 121





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on my recent Crack Theory of Lila having a broken Miraculous seen in https://sparklyaxolotlstudent.tumblr.com/post/190092191205/auheadcanontheory-that-makes-the-awful-and

“WHAT THE HELL?!”

Lila jumped back from her desk, as she looked at the green… thing that had appeared from her earring. The thing was looking everywhere, and their eyes seemed to move independently, which only freaked Lila even more.

“Finally! After a thousand years I’m free again!” The thing proclaimed happily. Then it turned to Lila. “Took you long enough, Lila”

“How… how do you know my name?” asked Lila, clearly afraid.

“Oh right.” The thing focused both eyes on Lila. And honestly, she didn’t know if this freaked her more or less than that thing having their focus elsewhere on her room. “You know what a Miraculous is, don’t you?”

Lila nodded, a slight fury replacing the fear on her face. “Yes, it’s how that Ladybrat and that Mangy Cat get their powers”

The thing rolled their eyes, which grossed Lila out. “Yeah, that. Well, turns out your family heirloom was also a Miraculous” said the thing, pointing to the earring she was polishing before. “Some family heirloom that turned out to be, huh?”

“What” Lila made a run for her earring, picking it up and examining it again. “How?” she asked. “Why now? I have worn this practically all my life! And who the hell… WHAT the hell are you?”

“Let me begin from the start. Hello Lila Rossi, my name is Glamm, I’m the Kwami of Perception, the Kwami of the Chameleon Miraculous, which now you have in your hands”

“Chameleon?” Lila at least now knew why the thing was so weird. “Wait, Miraculous? I have a Miraculous?” she was finally processing the words of Glamm.

“Yeah, it seems that paste you stole from that girl with pigtails fixed my Miraculous”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t steal this from Marinette! She offered it to me!”

Lila quickly remembered how she had acquired that paste. Marinette was cleaning those horrible earrings she was always wearing with it during recess, and thanks to her crafty manipulations of the rest of the class, she had made her give it to her.

Glamm rolled their eyes again. “I have been alongside my miraculous for a long time Lila Dolores Rossi. I have seen every lie, omission and manipulation you have dished out. The fact that my Miraculous was broken was the only reason why your pathetic lies were believed in the first place”

“What?” Now Lila was furious. She was a Master Manipulator! She had been doing this her whole life she… had been wearing the Miraculous this whole time too… “What do you mean?” she asked more calmly.

“Kwamis are the Anthropomorphic Personification of an abstract concept. In my case, I’m Perception, how you see and how other people see you. Normally, my Miraculous allow the user to shape shift into other people, and even copy their powers if they have some”

Lila’s mind started going a mile a minute about how she could use this to discredit Ladybug.

“BUT! Ever since my Miraculous was broken, my connection to the physical world was broken too, and I was unable to interact with anything. But my power still seeped out of the Miraculous, although in a more passive way.”

Lila blinked in confusion. “What do you mean, exactly?” she narrowed her eyes, imagining where this conversation was going, but hoping she was wrong.

“My power allowed you to be perceived as you wanted. Why do you thing all people believed your frankly ridiculous claims without even checking?”

“I’m… I’m very good at lying”

Glamm raised an inexistent eyebrow. “Really? The journalist wannabe doesn’t check with Ladybug, who she encounters every other day? The napkin to the eye is believed by a child who was able to create artificial intelligence? Your teachers believe your many many disabilities without a doctor’s note? Your own mom believes your school is closed without checking for herself?”

Lila let herself fall on her seat. “But… they always believe me… it was because of _you_?”

Glamm nodded. “Yes, I had no choice in that.”

Lila looked at the earring in her hands and felt a myriad of things about it. Anger, regret, disillusion… If an akuma wasn’t currently attacking the city (Either that giant baby or the pigeon guy, she hadn’t pay attention to the Akuma Alert, other that it was a repeat akuma) she was sure she would have attracted an akuma by now.

“You have a choice now, though. I know you, you probably think that you can use my power to make trouble to Ladybug, don’t you?”

Lila opened her mouth to argue, but knew this thing already knew the truth. “And what if I do, Pascal?”

“Pas… Oh I get it, very funny, ha ha.” Glamm replied sarcastically. Their eyes focused on Lila again. She recoiled. “Naturally, you can do whatever you want, and I will assist you, but you _are_ smart. You should understand what will happen now that my Miraculous has been repaired.” He waited a few seconds, until saw Lila change expressions. “Your silly lies won’t be believed as easily. Your _previous_ lies will not be believed as easily.”

Lila grabbed the earring and tried to break it with her bare hands. Glamm rolled their eyes again. This girl really had a thick skull.

“Only a Cataclysm can break a Miraculous… which is how it happened last time, by the way, thanks for asking.”

Lila glared at Glamm. “So what do you suggest?”

“Well, like I said, you have options, and you probably won’t like any of them” Lila glared at him, but just sighed. “Well for starters, you could give me to Ladybug”

“HELL NO” she said, putting the earring back on her ear. “No fucking way I’m doing that”

“I’m just listing your options, you dolt. Option number two, you keep your life as is, and become better at lying”

“I like that one”

“Of course you’ve had my power basically all your life; so again, your lying abilities are basically the same than when you were five years old. People will catch up really quickly, and you will be humiliated, isolated and probably sued by all those people you have lied to and about to.”

Lila gulped. If Glamm was right and all her “expertise” was actually their power all along, she was very much screwed.

“Another option, of course, is what you already planned. Use my power and transform into Ladybug”

“Yeah! She will be hated by everyone and…”

“And she and Chat Noir will eventually caught you and take me, and since this is no akumatization, you will be again: humiliated, isolated, sued and probably end up in jail”

“Yeah, like they would catch me, look at their track record!”

“They always catch the akuma. The only reason Hawk Moth is still at large is because he sends akumas instead of going himself.”

Lila glared at Glamm again, but knew they were right.

“So basically, I’m screwed either way I go. I always thought getting a Miraculous would be better than this” She sunk in her chair, holding her legs.

“I’m not finished.” Glamm flied to Lila’s range of vision. “There is another thing you can try… like I say, you probably won’t like it, but…”

Lila perked up. What she didn’t understood is that while she merely thought she was a good manipulator, Glamm was the real deal, and while all they were saying was the truth, they were also playing Lila like the cheap kazoo that she was.

“There is another way to crew with Ladybug… and that Cat too, if you want”

“Really?”

“Really. Remember when you were Volpina the first time?”

Lila nodded. She had always thought that everyone was lying when they said they didn’t remember the things they did when they were akumatized, as she remembered her time as Volpina (Both times) and as Chameleon. Now she realized that it was probably because of her own Miraculous that she had her memories of those times.

“Well, you can become a hero again. A real one this time. We can help take Hawk Moth down… and easily upstage Ladybug as Paris best hero”

“We’ll have to help her?”

“Yes. And keep a secret identity too”

“Pfft, work without credit? No thank you”

“Should I remind you that Chloe is Queen Bee and still no one likes her?”

Lila looked at the kwami. One of their eyes was wandering again. Lila will take some time getting used to that quirk. And to the fact that they were right… again.

“If you really want to screw with Ladybug and everyone else, we have to play the long game. You can’t claim to be ‘Paris Greatest Hero’ on your first outing, or ‘The only hero that Paris needs’ or any of those silly things you said as Volpina.”

“That’s boring”

“But effective. Do you want to be recognized by Ladybug immediately? I mean, it’s the same for me if she takes my Miraculous, but you might have other plans…”

“But what about my normal life then? Without your powers…”

“Without my powers you might want to lay low for a while. You’ll have to fight against the urge to claim outrageous things, or to make that pigtailed girl miserable. You’ll have to play nice, for real, and try to tell the truth. Your old tricks won’t work anymore.”

Lila contemplated her new life. She wasn’t opposed to be a hero, really, having the adoration of the public would be rather nice. After all, Chat Noir was admired and respected despite Ladybug doing most of the work anyway. She would need to think on a good super hero name. A shame she couldn’t be “Volpina”.

“We could go now, you know?”

“And make my debut be against a giant baby? No thank you. Magnifique Caméléonne will have a debut worth of the gods”

“… Magnificent Chameleon? What did I just tell you? Caméléonne will suffice”

“… dammit”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glamm is supposed to be nonbinary, so please tell me if I refer to them as “he/him” or “she/her” instead of they/them so I can correct it. 
> 
> Glamm’s phrase is gonna be “Glamm, tongue lash” unless I find a better pun.
> 
> Caméléonne is simply the french word for a female chameleon. I’ll change if there is something better. The italian word would be vetoed by Glamm as being “too obvious”, so either something in french or english. (Countess Chameleon has a nice ring to it, but it’s too long)
> 
> The Chameleon Miraculous power is “Replication”, where the holder transform into someone else, powers included. Their Five minutes start counting when they change, and if they transform into another miraculous holder, they can use their power only once, their counter is unaffected. I’m debating in whether giving them the drawback of not being able to change back until their counter runs out or not. 
> 
> the Chameleon hero’s weapon isa "sticky hand" toy, but shaped like a chameleon tongue(or just without the “fingers”), of course. I was going to use a whip, but this is waaaaay more fun. 
> 
> Opinions? Suggestions for Lila’s hero name?
> 
> Her suit will probably be just heavily based on her Volpina one, ‘cuz let’s admit it, that thing looks rather good.


	2. Chapter 2

“MagnifiChameleon”

“… That’s the same thing as before”

“Charming Chameleon”

“That’s a mouthful”

“… Charmeleon”

“… That’s a pokemon and you know it”

Lila was getting frustrated. Every name that she had suggested, Glamm had turned it down. Normally, she would do as she pleased and call herself something self congratulatory and that it would stand out, but as Glamm had very nicely pointed out, Ladybug would figure her out rather quickly if she claimed outrageous things. She had to be smarter than Ladybug, and as annoying as Glamm was, they were right, she had to play the long game instead of going for instant adoration from the public.

And Lila would never admit it, but she felt kind of proud when Glamm said that they were sure Lila would be able to outsmart Ladybug.

“How do _you_ know what is a pokemon?” Lila also hated to admit, but having someone to banter with, without fear of actual consequences was a bit fun, especially when she won.

“Again, I have been with you practically your whole life. I know of your on-and-off relationship with the pokemon franchise.”

“Really? What’s my favorite pokemon?”

“You always say Vulpix, ‘because foxes are so cute’, but you your actual favorite is Bulbasaur. You also have a soft spot for Mimikyu”

“… I hate you”

“You love me, My Little Chameleon”

Lila didn’t know if Glamm would go on on her secret love of the My Little Pony Franchise, but, apparently it was just a comeback. Wait… Little Chameleon didn’t sound so bad, did it?

“So are you going to help this time?” Asked Glamm, making Lila pay attention to the tv, as the show they were watching switched to Nadja Chamack giving them a report of the latest Akuma. The Pigeon guy. Again. Lila made a face, but before she could say anything, Glamm spoke up. “I know you want your debut to be amazing, but, look at it this way: Akumas are unpredictable. Some look ridiculous and have the most amazing powers, while others look menacing and dark, and end up being pushovers. Mister Pigeon might not be the toughest, but you know what to expect, and you also have no experience, so while it will not be as spectacular as you want, it will be safe, and we can finally start building some rapport with Ladybug, not to mention start to get popular with the people of Paris”

Lila looked away. “I don’t know… that pigeon guy has appeared lots of times before.”

“Worst comes to worst, you’ll arrive to the Cure, introduce yourself, and prove you’re not an akuma”

“Ugh, FINE! But that guy needs therapy, not being beating up ten times in a row by some teenagers in brightly colored pajamas.”

“When all you have is a hammer…”

“… I get a sticky tongue for a weapon, not a hammer.”

Glamm shrugged, Lila rolled her eyes. “All right. Glamm, Tongue Lash!”

Glamm went inside the Miraculous, Lila’s earring, and her transformation started. She noted the pirouettes and bright colors, the rush of power and the feelings that transformed her. It was very different than when she was akumatized. She had to admit that with the akumatizations she felt more powerful and, to be honest, free of constrains, except for the anger directed at Ladybug, Adrien and everyone she felt worthless. But with the Miraculous, it was different. She felt the power, but without negative feelings. The rush felt nicer, like that time her mom took a day off and they got Ice Cream and…

Lila shook her head; this was not the time to senseless sentimentalisms. She took her tongue whip (which was more like a sticky hand) out of her belt and jumped out of her window (She noted that it was probably a bad idea to transform in her room, but what was done, was done)

In no time she reached the place of the battle, and managed to use her sticky tongue whip to trip Mr. Pigeon by tying his feet together. Ladybug took the distraction and reached for the akumatized object (Chat Noir was currently being attacked by pigeons). Ladybug wasted no time and broke the akumatized object, returning Mister Raimier to normal. As normal as Mister Raimier was, anyway. They hadn’t even used Cataclysm nor the Lucky Charm, which was a first for Ladybug, luckily, Mister Pigeon hadn’t destroyed anything this time. They just did some non magical clean up, while Lila introduced herself.

“Who are you?” Asked Chat Noir in a tone that Lila though was hostile, but after her tricks as Volpina, she couldn’t help but think that at least the Mangy Cat learned a lesson that time.

“I… haven’t decided on a name yet, actually.” She said, honestly. She felt weird being honest like that. As Glamm suggested, she was honest on her ‘origin story’… mostly. She offered the information before they asked to make it more believable and sympathetic. “Look, I know this is suspicious, but I swear, I have a Miraculous” She pulled her hair and showed them her earring. “My grandmother gave it to me, and it must have been repaired by one of the Miraculous Cure you casted. The Kwami of Perception, the Chameleon Glamm, told me the Black Cat of 300 hundred ago did a cataclysm on the Miraculous of my predecessor and broke it. They were still in the middle of the fight, and it ended up lost. I have no idea how my grandma ended up with it, but here we are”

The two heroes were silent. “Yeah, Black Cats seem to have problems trying not to break Miraculous.” Ladybug snickered. “As far as we know, you can’t be an akuma, and we do appreciate the help, but please understand that we will have to work together a couple of times before we trust you”

“If My Lady is okay with you, then I’m okay too” Chat offered. They both put their hands out, and “pounded it” with the newcomer. Lila felt strange doing it.

She returned home, noticing that Alya had been filming, and wondered how long it would take until she uploaded it into the Ladyblog, and how longer it would take to change it into the Chameleonblog… ChameNews… She seriously needed to work on the name.

“Glamm, tongue in” She transformed again into herself, and went to her desk for a pack of really cheap jelly beans for Glamm, who started devouring them. “I don’t understand how you like that garbage; I could easily get you better ones” she said, as she started brushing her hair in front of the mirror.

“I’m all about perception. They look rather nice, bright and colorful, but are actually bland and flavorless. Well, except the ones that taste vile, but still, it’s all about the presentation.”

Lila rolled her eyes while keeping brushing her hair. Not that she needed it, but she had to focus on something. She knew beforehand she was not going to like working with Ladybug and her glorified sidekick, but had to do it in order for their master plan of becoming Paris’ #1 hero in the heart of the people. But she felt… weird

Glamm looked at Lila with one eye and had the other in his jelly beans. They knew what she was thinking and why was she so mortified. People used to see her how she wanted to be seen before: A hero, a charismatic leader, a poor victim… her list was endless. But perception works both ways, and now she was also seeing people for what they are, and not how she wanted to perceive them. For the first time, Lila was seeing Ladybug as a hero.


	3. Bonus

Lila as Chameleon!

Plus Glamm

I'm not 100% sold on the colors, as she looks a bit like a Ninja Turtle, but I do like the design.

Bonus Bonus: Lila and Glamm untransformed


	4. Chapter 4

“So, what do you think about this new hero?” asked Chat Noir to Ladybug once he caught up to her. She was on a roof, watching the stars.

“I asked the Master and her story checks out.”

“That’s not what I asked”

“Well, it’s weird. Normally, I would have more suspicions, but the Master said that what she said about the Miraculous of Perception is true, and that that Miraculous was lost way before the others were put on boxes in the temple. And Tikki also confirmed that Glamm was a real kwami”

“Yeah, Plagg did too. Apparently they didn’t got along really well”

Ladybug snickered. “I guess he’s still mad about Glamm hiding his cheese stash and blaming Trixx for it?”

Chat Noir grinned, taking a seat next to her. “Yeah, a bit. Cheese is serious business for him. So, what’s the plan of action then?”

“Basically, we wait and see. There’s a small chance she’s working with Hawk Moth, so we have to keep our eyes open.”

Chat Noir nodded. There was something about that Chameleon girl that rubbed him the wrong way, but after jumping to conclusion with Volpina… with _Lila_ , he knew he has to be more cautious this time.

-

“ _Chamelopardalis_!” blurted Lila out. Glamm looked at her with a single eye.

“… That’s a giraffe”

“I know, I just wanted to see if you were paying attention”

“I am.” Glamm said, focusing again on the TV. So far, nothing had appeared on the Ladyblog, and Nadja Chamack had stopped her report after the higher ups noticed it was Mister Pigeon again. Lila had been furious at Glamm for going after such a crappy akuma. They, however, pointed out that they had gained good will with the Ladybug, and that mattered more, as fame and fortune will arrive sooner than later. “You should stop refreshing that site and do something else. Have you finished you homework yet?”

“No, I’ll just ask Alya tomorrow before class starts”

“And how are you going to convince her?”

“… I hate you so much”

“You love me. C’mon, those equations won’t solve themselves.”

“What do you know about math anyway” asked Lila rolling her eyes at the little chameleon, while going for her backpack to get her homework.

“Admittedly, not much, but I can totally help you and be your moral support slash cheerleader.”

Glamm *did* know about math, but if they admitted such, Lila would make them do her homework. The unlikely duo started with Lila’s homework, and after some ups and downs, Lila managed to finish it before bedtime. She wouldn’t admit it, but she had enjoyed the ‘challenge’.

-

At the next day, Lila was careful when going for breakfast, hiding Glamm in her purse… but it turns out it hadn’t been necessary. There were no signs of her mom being home, just a note saying she had been called from work early and would be working late. Lila had to pretend to not care, and Glamm just distracted her with more talk about yesterday. It turned out that while Alya had reported the akuma on the Ladyblog, she had been curiously quiet about the new hero. Lila, was, of course, pissed off about this, but Glamm assured her that Alya might want to do an interview or some other better feature than just defeating Mister Pigeon.

They were so engrossed in their talk that they almost didn’t notice Nino approaching them, like almost every morning. Glamm was quick to hide in Lila’s hair, and later in her school bag.

“Hey Lila, good morning!”

“OH! Hey Nino! Didn’t see you there!” said a scared Lila, looking everywhere for Glamm, until she noticed they weren’t there.

“Yeah, I’m totally a ninja… Is something wrong?”

“What? Oh no!” Lila stopped looking for Glamm. Either they can turn invisible or they managed to hide before Nino noticed, so she was relieved either way. “Nah, it’s all good, I’m a bit nervous for today math work” she said as they started walking to school together. Normally, Lila would go earlier or later so she wouldn’t have to walk together with him every day, but of course she couldn’t do that every day. She felt uncharacteristically at ease after seeing that Nino hadn’t caught sight of Glamm floating around her, that one would have been hard to explain with or without perception powers.

“You tell me about it, I had a hard time doing it! I’m half-sure some of my answers are wrong”

“We can check them when we arrive to school. I’m pretty confident I have them right myself”

“Cool! Wait didn’t you say you had trouble with math?” Lila looked away. “Sorry, didn’t meant it like that”

“Don’t worry. I did have help with that.”

“Oh, cool, my mom says it’s a sign of maturity to admit you need help”

Lila stopped for a second there. She quickly shook it out of her system. Nino didn’t notice, or pretend he didn’t.

“You must have a great relationship with your mom”

Nino shrugged. “Yeah, except when I need to clean my room” he chuckled. “Let’s just say my room isn’t the tidiest room you’ll see.”

Lila giggled… And then she stopped in her tracks again. She had been genuinely amused at Nino’s lame joke.

In no time, they reached their school and soon their classroom and their seats and started comparing their notes. They only had different results on two of the problems, and Max was quickly called as an arbitrer to point out which one was right. It was a draw, as both were wrong. Lila laughed it off, and then noticed she wasn’t even mad at having been told she was wrong, she actually had had fun just talking with Nino and being taught by Max (even if he sounded a bit condescending, although Kim later told them it wasn’t on purpose)

Alya and Marinette arrived while they were finishing comparing notes, Marinette glared at her. Lila could bet she thought she was shamelessly copying Nino’s work and really couldn’t blame her for thinking that about her… and then realized what she just thought.

“Ugh, I still can’t believe it!”

“What’s wrong babe?” asked Nino, quickly going to his girlfriend. Lila approached them cautiously, remembering hard to not try to impress them or lie, as without Glamm’s passive magic, she didn’t know if she would be believed or shunned.

“There is a new hero running around!” Said Alya in a weird tone, that Nino couldn’t really tell if it was excited or angry.

“You don’t seem very happy about it” Lila hid behind Nino immediately after saying that, as Alya glared at her. Alya seemed to notice and took a deep breath.

“Yeah, sorry. I normally would, but I was playing with a new app on my phone that turned out to be a battery drainer, and long story short, I didn’t get any video of her.”

“I’m sure she will appear again, don’t worry about it. Besides, it was Mister Pigeon.”

Alya chuckled at that. “Yeah, but…” she looked at Nino, and then looked away. “For the looks of it, Ladybug replaced Carapace”

“WHAT?” surprisingly for Alya, it had been Lila who yelled, not Nino.

“She was green, the only green miraculous is the turtle, so what other one could she be?” said Alya, with a clear angry tone to her voice.

“A Chameleon!” yelled Marinette and Lila at the same time. They looked at each other and then diverted their eyes. Even if Alya was annoyed at the replacement of Nino, she had to admit that seeing Marinette and Lila agree onto something was amusing.

“What?” asked Nino, breaking the uncomfortable silence. Unlike Alya, he seemed okay with the concept of being replaced, either temporarily or on a permanent basis. He also had been busy last day with Chris, so he held no ill will to Ladybug if she had indeed replaced him. “A Chameleon?”

“Well, she couldn’t be the turtle; Carapace has a shield as a weapon, right?” Alya nodded. “I saw the fight, she had a to…a whip thing” Lila tried as hard as she could to sound convincing. She was telling the truth after all.

“Yeah, I saw it too” said Marinette, looking a bit annoyed at having to agree with Lila. Lila took that look of annoyance as victory. Telling the truth was a small price to pay to get Marinette annoyed.

“Really? I didn’t manage to catch Ladybug after that.”

“You should ask her then.”

“I don’t wanna bother her”

Nino and Marinette looked at each other and laughed.

“What?” she said, annoyed, crossing her arms

Marinette put her hand on Alya’s shoulder. “Didn’t you stopped her the other day to ask her which was her favorite flavor of Ice Cream?”

“That’s different, someone asked that in the Ladyblog, and I pride myself of having just facts on my blog.”

Lila had to use all her willpower to not laugh at that. After all, all her phony interviews were still up.

Wait a second.

_All her phony interviews were still up._

And without the magic of the broken Miraculous, anyone who rewatched them would question her credibility, and worse, the credibility of Alya!

…

Wait.

…

Did she just thought that Alya being discredited would be worse than herself being discredited?

_What?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, Lila is slowly but surely growing a conscience...  
> I mean, if she doesn't go crazy first.


	5. Chapter 5

“WATCH OUT!” yelled a transformed Lila as she pulled Ladybug with her tongue whip from the path of a transforming ray from the newest Akuma.

Unfortunately, Chat Noir had had the same idea, but instead of trying to push Ladybug, he jumped straight into the ray, becoming a little Chat Noir doll.

“Hey! Glad you could come!” greeted Ladybug to the green clad hero. She nodded.

“We must stop meeting like this” tried to joke Lila.

“Yeah we should.”Ladybug smiled at the other girl. She turned around and saw the Akuma pick up the Chat Noir doll. “Dammit Chat, again? Sorry, I’m not mad at you, but apparently Chat Noir got himself out again for no reason. Follow me.”

Ladybug lead Lila far from the Akuma, while telling her the current situation and thinking on ways they could defeat her, especially now that Chat Noir had been transformed into a doll.

“She’s a student from Francois Dupont, Gabriella.” Lila recognized the name as one of the girls from Mendeleiev’s class, a pretty girl with wavy dark hair that was all smiles. She knew she was in the art club and occasionally asked Marinette for advice on sewing stuff. Like with everyone else, Lila had gathered as much information on her in case she needed her some time; for some reason, she felt ashamed now.

“From what I was told,” Continued Ladybug, “apparently she likes to modify dolls to her liking, and today she took to school a custom Ladybug doll to show her friends. Chloe Bourgeois saw it, snatched it and asked for a price. Gabriella didn’t wanted to sell, they fought, and in the end, the doll ended up in a bad shape.”

“And I guess she got akumatized then?”

“No, she still could have repaired it. She got akumatized because Chloe got her suspended on some bogus claims”

Lila wasn’t really surprised there. Alya had told her how she had done something similar to her, and just how she had the principal wrapped on her little finger. She was glad that for all her attitude, Chloe never registered her as a threat to be eliminated.

“And now she calls herself DollMaker, and she transforms people into dolls. She already has Chloe, so I don’t know if…”

Ladybug tackled Lila barely avoiding another ray. To their surprise, a doll of Sabrina had been the one shooting it. “I found you” they heard in a singy-song voice.

“I didn’t know she could do that!” They ran again, noticing that dolls were patrolling nearby.

“What are your powers exactly?” asked Ladybug, once they were in a safe place in the locker rooms in the sewers.

“I can shape shift into someone else. If it’s another Miraculous holder, I can replicate their power too, but only once”

“Can you replicate anyone?”

“Yes and no, I could replicate you, and Chat… wait, no, if I try to transform into Chat Noir I could end up becoming a doll”

“What about the other heroes?”

“If they were transformed, sure, but since technically speaking, they don’t ‘exist’ right now, my powers would not copy them.”

Ladybug thought about it.

“Sorry… I’m useless”

“You’re not! You saved me earlier, remember? I’m just not used to your powers… but neither is Hawk Moth… You can copy me, right?”

“Yeah, you’re here and transformed… I could even copy the Lucky Charm… oooohhh”

-

“Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home, your house is on fire and…”

“Stop with the creepy rhyme already!”

Doll maker had been singing the creepy little poem for a time now, taunting Ladybug to come out. She had a lot of dolls on surveillance, and was keeping the Chat Noir doll and the Chloe doll with her.

“Well, well, well, look at you, little Ladybug, and my, how pretty you are!” Ladybug recoiled, clearly uncomfortable with how she was being talked to. It didn’t help that the Doll Maker looked like a human version of a very elaborate porcelain doll. She had to admit it was one of the most aesthetically pleasant akumas that Hawk Moth had created tho.

“And you’ll look even prettier as a doll!”

Ladybug started dodging all the rays from the dolls, moving between them gracefully. And then she tripped and a ray hit her anyway. There was a “poof” and a bit of smoke, and it disappeared. Doll Maker was confused. Then more and more Ladybugs appeared, the dolls went crazy, trying to hit each and every one. All of them fakes. A Ladybug almost caught her, but she managed to dodge her and hit the hero with a ray, only for her to transform into a little Rena Rouge. She was very confused at this, and in her confusion, she didn’t notice another Ladybug approaching her with a nail polish bottle, which she threw it in her face, making her gasp in horror.

“NO! You don't customize with nail polish” She yelled, trying to get the liquid from her plastic face. Another Ladybug approached her with a bottle labeled “acetone”, which she poured on her chest, where the original ladybug doll was resting along with the dolls of Chat Noir and Chloe. The Ladybug doll melted when the liquid touched her, freeing the Akuma inside. The Ladybug with the bottle used her yo-yo to grab and purify the akuma, and then they both grabbed their respective Lucky Charms and chanted “Miraculous Ladybug” at the same time, producing swarms of little magical ladybugs that returned everyone that had transformed into dolls back into themselves. The Ladybug with the nail polish lucky charm transformed back into the mysterious green hero, but not before Chat Noir had seen her like his lady.

“Aww, and here I thought I was getting another Ladybug! Oh, hey Rena!” he said after noticing the Fox hero approaching them.

“Hey, it looks like Ladybug and Chameleon got this one!”

“Chameleon?” asked Lila confused, and a bit annoyed.

“Oh, sorry. I don’t actually know your name.”

“She hasn’t decided on one” added Ladybug. “But what really matters is that she's a valuable member of the team. A pleasure working with you again” Ladybug stretched her hand out, offering ‘Chameleon’ a handshake. She doubted at first, but ended up accepting it.

“Thanks, really. And I will think on a name sooner than later” She smiled, and then all of them heard their miraculous beeping. Except for Chat’s, who hadn’t used his power at all.

“Chat would you mind making sure Gabriella is fine? I have to take the fox Miraculous and we don’t have much time left”

“Sure thing bugaboo”

The four heroes pounded it and went their different ways, with Chat picking up the now restored Ladybug doll and offering it to Gabriella.

“Not to toot my own… flute, but good thing you called me!” said Alya once she returned the Fox necklace to Ladybug through a door, as Ladybug herself was close to transform too.

“It was actually Chameleon’s idea. We weren’t sure if the dolls could see us or not… my plan only involved her and me, glad you weren’t transformed into a doll… I mean, before you could help us.”

“Glad to be of help too, and say thanks to Chameleon for me! I'm happy to know you’re not replacing Nino!”

Marinette smiled behind the door as she heard Alya go away to give her privacy.

“Is something wrong?” asked Tikki

“No, not wrong. It’s just nice to have another teammate… weird, but nice. I don’t know what would have happened if Chameleon…”

“You would have defeated Doll Maker some other way, I’m sure” Tikki hugged Marinette, reassuring her. Marinette accepted the tiny hug, and decided to not to worry about Chameleon for now, as she seemed to be a good and reliable teammate.

-

“You were really good taking on the akuma!” Glamm praised Lila, as she did a curtsy to thank for the compliment of the little kwami. “Especially when you stepped up as Ladybug's partner when that cat got himself dollyfied”

Lila grabbed some jellybeans and offered them to Glamm, which gladly took them. She took a took a couple herself and regretted it immediately, but being to proud and well educated to spit them out, she just swallowed quickly.

“I’m even impressed you asked Ladybug to bring Rena Rouge”

“Uh?” asked Lila, before drinking some water to wash away the bad taste of the cheap jellybeans.

“Well, yeah, pretty noble of you to not only share the spotlight with that fox hero, but being the one that suggested it, otherwise people could have talked about you being more effective than Chat Noir and a better partner overall for Ladybug. But you shared the credit without a second thought, even if you thought before that ‘Volpina’ could have been a better hero than Rena Rouge.”

Lila stopped drinking. She looked at the tv that Glamm had just turned on to watch the news, and there they were, in an aerial shot, fighting alongside Ladybug and Rena Rouge… and all she could think was that it was actually fun, and how glad she was that they could rescue Gabriella from akumatization. She smiled.

-

In another place, Gabriella was working on her new custom, a doll of the new hero of Paris.


	6. Chapter 6

“Thank you so much!... Again, sorry… yeah… See you tomorrow” Lila ended the call and sighed sadly.

“So, how did it go?” asked Glamm, with one eye in the tv and another on Lila.

“Surprisingly well. I learned a new swear word from Alya.” Glamm did what Lila guessed was raising an eyebrow at her with their creepy eyes. “Ok, maybe I’m not that bad at lying without an elder god doing the persuasion for me.” She added, avoiding both of Glamm’s eyes.

“I prefer the term eldritch abomination, but go on.”

“Yeah…” Lila avoided Glamm’s gaze and picked up a magazine, pretending interest. “That’s why I told her via a call… She wasn’t happy about having to delete the interview because my mom had found out and was furious at me for ‘exposing us like that’… Y’know, in hindsight, It’s a relief that no shady criminal, let alone Hawk Moth himself tried to do something when everyone thought I was Ladybug’s best friend”

“Bad writing” said Glamm matter-of-factly, floating towards Lila.

“Uh?”

“The magazine you’re pretending to read. It has bad writing on all their articles.”

“… Oh…” she put the magazine away. “Anyway, ready for our literature homework?”

“You mean _your_ literature homework” Glamm teased Lila. She just stuck her tongue at her kwami.

“You know what I mean. We… _I_ have to make an analysis on Cinderella”

“Cinder… OH! Ye Xian! It’s amazing how her story has evolved over time. One of my first holders”

“… you knew the original Cinderella?”

“One of many. Miraculous and Miraculous holders are part of a LOT of fairy tales and folklore worldwide. C’mon, making a common peasant girl look like the most beautiful noblewoman? That was me!”

“So she did marry the prince and became a queen?”

“What? No, she just went out for a night of fun, but her step family recognized her – my bad- and we had to flee, and long story short, she lost my Miraculous.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Nah, the King of another Island found my Miraculous and asked me what was going on, and I told her about good ol’ Ye Xian. He went to search for her and married her. It was very romantic.”

“I guess the story of this book is nothing like you just told me Fairy GodKwami”

Glamm shrugged.

-

It has been almost a month since Lila’s debut as a super hero. Thanks to Alya uploading her fights with the other heroes, her popularity had been on the rise, with people praising the group of “Ladybug, Chat Noir and Chameleon”…. She wasn’t happy that Alya had named her that, as everyone latched on the name, and she thought it was way too basic for her tastes.

But, as Glamm had pointed out, the other heroes were literally named “Ladybug” and “Black Cat”, so her name actually made it feel like she was a part of the team, unlike the more elaborate “Rena Rouge” or “Queen Bee”, much to her annoyance, Lila had to concede the point. And feel strangely giddy at the thought of herself truly belonging to a team. Not that she would admit it.

It didn’t help… or it did, that people immediately latched on the name and Glamm pointed out, even if she tried to name herself something different now, people would still call her Chameleon, so it would be better on the long run to accept the name and own it.

She had fought another akumas in that time, and had made a good synergy with Chat Noir and with Ladybug. Sometimes she copied Cataclysm, sometimes she copied Lucky Charm. Sometimes she didn’t need to do either, and instead got ice cream when she helped defeat Mr. Pigeon. _Again_.

She felt oddly proud when she heard her classmates talk about her hero persona, some of them, of course, still liked Ladybug better, and Chat Noir had her own fans too. She was surprised to hear Alya telling Ella and Etta now liked Chameleon better, because she looked more fun, which prompted Sabrina to confess she actually liked her too. People started to talk about the new hero and Lila had to excuse herself when she heard _Marinette_ , of all people, commenting that it was hard to imagine a time before Chameleon was with Ladybug and Chat Noir. _Marinette_.

She didn’t know how to feel about that.

And then things got worse… or better… she didn’t know anymore, after arriving at school one day, and finding Alya making an interview with that Gabriella girl, the one that had became Dollmaker and was, technically, the first person Lila helped save. She totally didn’t count Mister Pigeon.

Curious, she approached in silence and saw some of her friends (err… classmates?... she felt weird that her first thought was “friends”, but shrugged it) around them. And what she saw almost made her cry on the spot.

Gabriella had very nicely posed, a doll of Ladybug, a doll of Chat Noir and… a doll of Chameleon. All in nice poses and much better done than the official merchandise from the movie (That Ladybug had told her one day that they weren’t consulted on those). “Her” doll was very nicely done, and was posed with her tongue whip.

“She’s my favorite” Gabriella’s voice snapped Lila back to reality.

“Really?” asked Alya, whose favorite was still Ladybug.

“Yeah, I mean, I know Ladybug and Chat Noir work hard, but I was the first akuma that Chameleon battled and…”

“Wasn’t that Mister Pigeon?” asked one of the students. Lila glared at him, as did Alya and Gabriella.

“I mean, she only arrived when Ladybug had practically won already… and it’s Mister Pigeon… he attacks the city every other week… No offense to Mister Raimier.”

“Anyway, yeah, Chameleon’s design is a bit more intricate than the others, and I plan to eventually do the others too, like Rena Rouge, I already ordered the hair and I have the base dolls for her”

“Dolls? Plural?”

“Yep. Well, the reason I asked you for this interview, apart to show off, is that I actually made two of each hero, and I would LOVE if this interview reached our heroes. It’s not much, but I would love to give them their own mini-me. “

Lila was… _emotional_ for the rest of the day. She tried to justify Gabriella’s actions as just wanting to gain the favor of the heroes, but she felt so _sincere_.

“She is what she is” said Glamm after class, when they were going home. “I didn’t perceive any ill intentions from her.

Lila just nodded. She felt a knot in her stomach. If it had been her, she would have commissioned someone like Marinette to do the dolls and then give them to the heroes. But this girl… she had spent money and time and her talent on being grateful to them, as a sort of reward that she sincerely didn’t expect…

She wouldn’t call it a “waste”, and it wouldn’t be the first time something like this happened, not even to her, like the Ice cream she received from Mister Raimier, or the hug she got from August, but she wasn’t saving them to get something… _wait_ …

“Lila?” Glamm called as Lila had stopped on her tracks, having a bit of an existential crisis.

Wait… hadn’t she become a hero in the first place to get the love and adoration of the people of Paris? Why was she feeling weird that one of those people actually wanted to reward her?

They were very close to reach home, where Lila could have a very nice existential crisis in the comfort of her own home. Glamm was so busy trying to get Lila to snap out of it that neither he nor Lila noticed that someone had reached them.

“Lila? Is… is that a Kwami?”

Well, _that_ made Lila snap out of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I'm still alive. 
> 
> Unlike Lila, maybe. 
> 
> Any bets on who discovered her?


End file.
